PARIS, France - Youth trumped experience in the second women's doubles semifinal at the French Open on Friday, as sixth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova rolled past their elder compatriots Andrea Sestini Hlavackova and Barbora Strycova and into their first Grand Slam final, 6-3, 6-2.
The younger Czech pairing never trailed over the course of the 68-minute semifinal victory to reach their first Grand Slam final together.
The 22-year-olds previously reached the semifinals in Paris two years ago, where they were upended in straight sets against eventual champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, but flipped the script in their second showing.
The No.6 seeds set the tone with a break of serve in the first game of the match, and were never even threathened on their own delivery in the opener as they dropped just three points in four service games.
After a second break of serve helped them pocket the opening set, Krejcikova and Siniakova continued their gold standard in the second.
After saving the lone break point they faced in the match in the third game, the sixth seeds ran off the last four games of the match from 2-2 to book a place in their first Grand Slam final as a duo against debutants Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya.
Siniakova will be the lone player of the four to have previously contested a Grand Slam final, as she finished runner-up to Latisha Chan and Martina Hingis at last summer's US Open with another compatriot in Lucie Hradecka.
Their appearance in Sunday's championship match will be the third tour-level final for this Czech team, who'll be looking to raise their first trophy together.
The pair have been runners-up twice this season, falling at the Shenzhen Open to Simona Halep and Irina-Camelia Begu, and at the Miami Open to CoCo Vandeweghe and Ashleigh Barty.
